It looks like I'm more like 6 games away, lol. Lots of cup matches in this bitch. FIXTURE CONGESTION
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FM14 Mr. Manager Dynasty (Ivory Coast/Stade Rennais)
- Thread starter Travis7401
- Start date
Jorginho returned from a 3 month broken ankle injury with a declaration that he wanted a raise (after just getting a 40k/week automatic raise associated with international appearances). Then I played him in one game and he's injured again for a month. When the offseason hits, this motherfucker getting sold off at a discount!
Mr. Manager vs Chelsea Loss 0-2. Was tied 0-0 at half and those fucking Zebras robbed me of a penalty just before half.
Deadmong vs Chealea Loss 2 - 7
So this turned out about opposite of what I would have predicted if you just gave me the scorelines, lol. Deadman had a lot more luck finishing as he got a ridiculous fluke goal from propper and a nice shot from Ntep, while none of my players could finish from 6 yards or so on 3 great chances. On the flip side of that, Costil played like a God for me and looked absolutely Horrible for Deadman. So I think the final scorelines were honestly more or less useless in comparing the success of these tactics (other than the fact that I am better than Deadman, of course). The only real takeaway I had was watching possession/shot/chance numbers early in each game. With my attacking outlook the earl possession, chances, and shots were actually pretty even and I had a brief advantage early. With Deadman's tactics, Chelsea were able to play a comfortable possession based offense and SR failed their only counter attempt before Chelsea got a goal. Obviously Deadman's tactics were nullified by an early goal, which is mostly bad luck, but also illustrates why attacking was the right move. When I did concede a goal, I did not have to alter my tactics on the fly. When Chelsea scored an early goal against deadman's tactics, there was a lot of pressure on me to abandon them super early.
Deadmong vs Chealea Loss 2 - 7
So this turned out about opposite of what I would have predicted if you just gave me the scorelines, lol. Deadman had a lot more luck finishing as he got a ridiculous fluke goal from propper and a nice shot from Ntep, while none of my players could finish from 6 yards or so on 3 great chances. On the flip side of that, Costil played like a God for me and looked absolutely Horrible for Deadman. So I think the final scorelines were honestly more or less useless in comparing the success of these tactics (other than the fact that I am better than Deadman, of course). The only real takeaway I had was watching possession/shot/chance numbers early in each game. With my attacking outlook the earl possession, chances, and shots were actually pretty even and I had a brief advantage early. With Deadman's tactics, Chelsea were able to play a comfortable possession based offense and SR failed their only counter attempt before Chelsea got a goal. Obviously Deadman's tactics were nullified by an early goal, which is mostly bad luck, but also illustrates why attacking was the right move. When I did concede a goal, I did not have to alter my tactics on the fly. When Chelsea scored an early goal against deadman's tactics, there was a lot of pressure on me to abandon them super early.
DeadMan
aka spiker or DeadMong
Stats look somewhat similar for each of the games, now that I quickly scanned through the videos. Chelsea basically dominated both of those games, but got slightly more chances against your park the bus tactics. And SR got fewer chances with the park the bus tactics. But the bottom line is that a 2-2 flukey home win in the champions league normally means the other leg is going to be a pounding.
For what it's worth, I set up my park the bus tactics very differently. I don't use the counter mentality - I go more defensive than that. I forget which one I use, but it's either one or clicks more defensive than counter. And then I set up my formation differently. I do a 4-1-4-1 instead of the 4-2-1-2-1 you set up there (hopefully that makes sense). I want two lines of four with someone patrolling in between those lines. And then the forward stays up for counterattacks on clearances basically. I'd put the fastest, best dribbling striker I had up there (bonus points for good finishing, high composure and a PPM of likes to dribble around keepers). But, honestly, since the teams I play with in FM are normally really good, I rarely park the bus for a whole game. I tend to do it with 10 minutes left in a 1-0 game or something like that. The only time I sort of did it was when I did a 3-4-2-1 formation like this:
But that was more because I didn't have any healthy strikers as opposed to needing to park the bus. I scored 3 goals on the "striker" countering and dribbling around a guy or two.
Don't know exactly why I posted all that. Maybe to see if next time, a different set up will park the bus better?
For what it's worth, I set up my park the bus tactics very differently. I don't use the counter mentality - I go more defensive than that. I forget which one I use, but it's either one or clicks more defensive than counter. And then I set up my formation differently. I do a 4-1-4-1 instead of the 4-2-1-2-1 you set up there (hopefully that makes sense). I want two lines of four with someone patrolling in between those lines. And then the forward stays up for counterattacks on clearances basically. I'd put the fastest, best dribbling striker I had up there (bonus points for good finishing, high composure and a PPM of likes to dribble around keepers). But, honestly, since the teams I play with in FM are normally really good, I rarely park the bus for a whole game. I tend to do it with 10 minutes left in a 1-0 game or something like that. The only time I sort of did it was when I did a 3-4-2-1 formation like this:
But that was more because I didn't have any healthy strikers as opposed to needing to park the bus. I scored 3 goals on the "striker" countering and dribbling around a guy or two.
Don't know exactly why I posted all that. Maybe to see if next time, a different set up will park the bus better?
Well it was a 2-2 draw in the home leg, not a win. I needed to win in order to advance (or at least score 2+goals in a draw). I didn't think you meant entirely park the bus, because you know that's not in Mr. Manager's bag of tricks
I have my tactics setup so that counter is the most defensive minded starting tactic then I tweak them in game as necessary (if I'm protecting a lead). For whatever reason, I've found that having a consistent formation/mentality is pretty key for me over the long run, so I wouldn't switch formations up completely, but at least try to stay in the same family of 4-5-1 formations with a diamond midfield. The first season I had 3 very distinct formations and found that switching between them caused a lot of errors.
As you said, Chelsea is just a much better team, so I don't think the tactical considerations mattered all that much, I needed a lot of luck. It almost panned out in a very positive way in my version of the game. If I could have finished those and taken a lead into halftime, THEN I could have truly parked the bus! Also, the final stats of your game ended up far more attacking because I went into overload just after half when I was down by like 4,lol. Compare the stats at the points where both games were 0-0 still and you can see that the attacking setup was far more promising statistically.
I have my tactics setup so that counter is the most defensive minded starting tactic then I tweak them in game as necessary (if I'm protecting a lead). For whatever reason, I've found that having a consistent formation/mentality is pretty key for me over the long run, so I wouldn't switch formations up completely, but at least try to stay in the same family of 4-5-1 formations with a diamond midfield. The first season I had 3 very distinct formations and found that switching between them caused a lot of errors.
As you said, Chelsea is just a much better team, so I don't think the tactical considerations mattered all that much, I needed a lot of luck. It almost panned out in a very positive way in my version of the game. If I could have finished those and taken a lead into halftime, THEN I could have truly parked the bus! Also, the final stats of your game ended up far more attacking because I went into overload just after half when I was down by like 4,lol. Compare the stats at the points where both games were 0-0 still and you can see that the attacking setup was far more promising statistically.
DeadMan
aka spiker or DeadMong
Yeah, I watched the first 20 minutes of the park the bus tactics just now, and those tactics were not set up anything like I would have done. Sorry, Travis But anyway, the first two goals essentially came on counters to your counter attacks, and that resulted in too many players too high up the field. And the biggest thing I saw from the shape was there wasn't a coherent defensive shape really. There was a blob of 3 central midfielders and that's about it. And that blob stays together, which leads to weaknesses in other areas of the field. In the build up to the first goal, Chelsea gets a 3 on 2 on one of the wings; meanwhile, your blob of central midfielders stays in the middle instead of one of them trying to track the 3rd guy out to the wing like he should have. And your wingers are too quick to break up the field on a counter attack. So you leave your backs exposed to counters to your counters because of those two things. And then on the second goal, Chelsea gets a 3 on 2 in the middle of the field, completely bypassing your central midfielders. I don't know exactly why all 3 abandoned the back line like that, but that's what happened there.
I'd have to see the set up exactly to see the settings and how to fix that. Probably tweaking the marking instructions for the central midfielders and moving the wingers back would be a good start. And then move down the mentality so the wingers don't get caught up field.
But anyway, the first two goals essentially came on counters to your counter attacks, and that resulted in too many players too high up the field. And the biggest thing I saw from the shape was there wasn't a coherent defensive shape really. There was a blob of 3 central midfielders and that's about it. And that blob stays together, which leads to weaknesses in other areas of the field. In the build up to the first goal, Chelsea gets a 3 on 2 on one of the wings; meanwhile, your blob of central midfielders stays in the middle instead of one of them trying to track the 3rd guy out to the wing like he should have. And your wingers are too quick to break up the field on a counter attack. So you leave your backs exposed to counters to your counters because of those two things. And then on the second goal, Chelsea gets a 3 on 2 in the middle of the field, completely bypassing your central midfielders. I don't know exactly why all 3 abandoned the back line like that, but that's what happened there.I'd have to see the set up exactly to see the settings and how to fix that. Probably tweaking the marking instructions for the central midfielders and moving the wingers back would be a good start. And then move down the mentality so the wingers don't get caught up field.
Sounds like some pussy fuck shit to me!
DeadMan
aka spiker or DeadMong
Well it was a 2-2 draw in the home leg, not a win. I needed to win in order to advance (or at least score 2+goals in a draw). I didn't think you meant entirely park the bus, because you know that's not in Mr. Manager's bag of tricks
I have my tactics setup so that counter is the most defensive minded starting tactic then I tweak them in game as necessary (if I'm protecting a lead). For whatever reason, I've found that having a consistent formation/mentality is pretty key for me over the long run, so I wouldn't switch formations up completely, but at least try to stay in the same family of 4-5-1 formations with a diamond midfield. The first season I had 3 very distinct formations and found that switching between them caused a lot of errors.
As you said, Chelsea is just a much better team, so I don't think the tactical considerations mattered all that much, I needed a lot of luck. It almost panned out in a very positive way in my version of the game. If I could have finished those and taken a lead into halftime, THEN I could have truly parked the bus! Also, the final stats of your game ended up far more attacking because I went into overload just after half when I was down by like 4,lol. Compare the stats at the points where both games were 0-0 still and you can see that the attacking setup was far more promising statistically.
Yeah, I would have set it up to go for a 0-0 draw and pray to steal a goal on a corner or free kick or something along those lines more than actually attacking. From a game theory perspective, I'm trying to limit all of the chances to as close to zero as possible. I think the less open the game is, the more likely you can grab a flukey goal. I would have set up not to give a goal away, period. If I tie 0-0, oh well. I can always give it a proper go with 15 minutes left if it's 0-0. Real hammer and tongs stuff. You know.
Brick
Well-Known Member
lol at the vidya game condescension.
DeadMan
aka spiker or DeadMong
Hard to tell the difference between being condescending and telling Travis the truth, I agree.
Really, Travis is probably better than me at FM. I don't think I could pull off what he's done with SR. The only time I tried something similar (Parma in FM07 or something), I was stuck in 8th or 9th every year until I gave up.
Really, Travis is probably better than me at FM.
I don't think I could pull off what he's done with SR. The only time I tried something similar (Parma in FM07 or something), I was stuck in 8th or 9th every year until I gave up.
two ways to look at it from game theory perspective:
1. Low scoring games are safer for the underdog, so SR should play to keep the score low. (ur argument)
2. Low scoring games are safer for the team who already has 2 away goals, so SR should play aggressive open soccer because higher scores favor them. (my argument)
neither is wrong or right, you just have to pick your reason and then go lose in that fashion, lol. To me, the 2nd outlook is only slightly advantageous because if things go wrong early you get to keep the same mentality. If things go wrong early for parking the bus, you have to completely change the gameplan 180 degrees (which tends not to work well in FM or real life)
For case #1 I'd still play counter attacking rather than completely parking the bus, just due to my team composition with fast strikers and fast attacking wing players. To see how it works ideally, go watch the video of my 3-1 win on the road against Juventus, as I used the same basic counter attacking initial setup. I honestly just don't have the players to play with a full on defend with 10 men formation.
1. Low scoring games are safer for the underdog, so SR should play to keep the score low. (ur argument)
2. Low scoring games are safer for the team who already has 2 away goals, so SR should play aggressive open soccer because higher scores favor them. (my argument)
neither is wrong or right, you just have to pick your reason and then go lose in that fashion, lol. To me, the 2nd outlook is only slightly advantageous because if things go wrong early you get to keep the same mentality. If things go wrong early for parking the bus, you have to completely change the gameplan 180 degrees (which tends not to work well in FM or real life)
For case #1 I'd still play counter attacking rather than completely parking the bus, just due to my team composition with fast strikers and fast attacking wing players. To see how it works ideally, go watch the video of my 3-1 win on the road against Juventus, as I used the same basic counter attacking initial setup. I honestly just don't have the players to play with a full on defend with 10 men formation.
DeadMan
aka spiker or DeadMong
why tho?
2017 Youth Intake Day
Pretty slim pickings in the youth class this year. Lionel Pierre is the only one in this bunch I'm really excited about. He plays a position that is relatively shallow on the youth team and he has good starting stats and 4.5 star potential and 19 determination. I posted screenshots of all the guys with 3.5 star potential or greater, and as always I'll keep tabs on them in future years!
Pretty slim pickings in the youth class this year. Lionel Pierre is the only one in this bunch I'm really excited about. He plays a position that is relatively shallow on the youth team and he has good starting stats and 4.5 star potential and 19 determination. I posted screenshots of all the guys with 3.5 star potential or greater, and as always I'll keep tabs on them in future years!
2016-2017 Season 1/2 Review
SR and Mr. Manager had an up and down 2nd quarter. On the downside, they lost 5 games. On the upside, they won a Champions league game against Dynamo Kyiv to take them to 9 points and secure second place in the group, despite losing twice to Dortmund and once to Juventus. That means SR will be advancing to the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time in Mr. Manager's reign of terror! The team had a lot of very close games against top competition. They barely lost to Dortmund away and utterly dominated PSG in an away match in Ligue 1, only to see their hopes dashed with a late PSG goal and some amazing saves by a backup goal. The Coupe de La Ligue cup loss to PSG was the most heartbreaking of all, as SR had leads for two very long stretches of the game and had all the best chances in extra time before letting in a sloppy goal on a corner scrum. Really frustrating to lose so early in a cup competition, as it really takes away from playing opportunities for younger players. Drawing PSG that early, WTF? So they were eliminated in one competition and advanced mostly on the strength of their first quarter performance in the Champions league, despite losing 3/4 games this quarter.
In Ligue 1 play, it was dissapointing to draw against Nancy boys and lose against PSG in a game they dominated. A tie against Monaco was like sister kissing, but otherwise the beat most of the teams they were supposed to beat and had three nice away wins in games they had been dropping points on in the first quarter. The highlight of the quarter was probably a 3-1 win away against Toulouse in which Toulouse actually scored the first goal, only to have SR come storming back. SR similarly came from behind on the road against AC Ajaccio. Those wins should be key down the stretch!
Ligue 1: 6 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss
Champions League : 1 win, 3 losses
Coupe de la Ligue: 1 loss
Overall 2nd Quarter: 7 wins, 2 draws, 5 losses
Ligue 1 Table:
Once again, SR find themselves in 4th place but only 3 points back of the leaders, with a game in hand on 2nd place, and tied on points with 3rd place (only 1 GD behind). There is a clearly elite group of teams this year at the top of Ligue1, so competition should be stiffer in the title race than last year when PSG had basically run away with it at this point. Should be fun!
Players I'm pleased with:
Cheick Diarra - Already matched his goal total from last season with 15 in all competitions. He scored 7 goals this quarter compared to 8 last, but was more consistent this quarter and also added 3 assists. He is by far the team's first choice striker
Davy Propper - Added another 3 goals and 3 assists and still leads the team in key passes, with double that of the closest competitor. He's really the driving force behind the offense at the moment. He's the best playmaker I've had since the FERRET was pulling strings at SR.
Rodrigo Gomez - Has become the teams best wing/cross threat and has really combined well with Diarra on fast breaks. Added 2 goals and 5 assists in the last quarter. I was really worried about replacing Fortunis' production but Gomez has at least showed he has the potential to be that answer. Was the best of the new arrivals this quarter.
Ousmane Dembele - Added 2 goals and an assist in spot duty, with both of the goals being key to securing victories that otherwise would have ended in draws. He's not had much action because Gomez has been playing so very well, but he's been good in limited duty and I'm excited for the future!
Molla Wague - The team's defensive stalwart in the middle. 16 key tackles and 62 key headers in 17 starts says it all. With my more attacking formation he's particularly thriving in the stopper role, winning the ball back for us early before the other team can build an attack.
Players I'm disappointed with:
Joel Veltman - 4 more starts and still looks like the worst defender on the team despite having the best stats. I'm thinking the language issue is causing us problems
Jorginho - So this one is funny because he was actually playing very well this quarter. The downside is that he changed his country to Brazillian and he received 5 fucking caps from them in qualification matches, which activiated this absurd clause in his contract making him the highest played player on my team... then promptly got hurt in practice the next day with a broken leg or some shit and now will miss most of the rest of the season. In case you are keeping score at home, he now takes up my valuable 3rd foreign player spot (usually used to get cheaper wage quality players), is my most highly paid player, and will miss most of the season. FUUUUUUUUU
Gerard Amon - Is horrible, thankfully I won't need him for long. I've switched to playing Peybernes when I need another RB. Gonna try to sell or loan him out during the transfer window!
2016-2017 Season 3/4 Review
Despite the disappointing exit to Chelsea in the Champions league, the third quarter really went better than I could possibly have expected. With various African national teams taking like half of my best starters, I had a skeleton crew of youngsters for the majority of the quarter and was barely eeking out a bunch of one goal wins over teams I should have pummeled. I even went to extra time to win a french cup game against something called a "FC Istres OP." The only real bummers this quarter was a heartbreaking loss to Bordeux on a very late goal, a thumping at the hands of OM with what was basically my reserve squad, and the loss to Chelsea in the Champions league. Otherwise everything went very well, as we rose in the tables in Ligue 1 and won 3 French cup games to advance to the quarter finals
Ligue 1 record: 7 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses
French cup record: 3 wins
Champions Cup record: 1 draw, 1 loss
Overall: 10 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses
You can also see the remaining schedule. Yikes. Lots of big games against good teams.
Ligue 1 Table
SR surprisingly find themselves at the very top, with 4 teams packed in between 1st and 4th. PSG is currently 4th but you know they won't end up there as they always finish #1 or #2. Monaco is currently 3rd and has by far the highest GD so they will move up if they are tied. SR has such a precarious hold on first place because they have the lowest Goal differential of the top 4 teams, so any ties will likely go to the others. It should be an interesting stretch run here, but I'm not very confident about holding the top spot because I don't have a win against any of the other top 4 and I still have to play all of them and I have the lowest GD.
Players I'm pleased with:
Gomez - With my best scoring option in diarra gone for most of the quarter, someone had to rise to the challenge and start scoring goals. Gomez became a dominant force over the last quarter, scoring 8 goals and adding an additional 3 assists. I was really worried about losing Fortunis' production, but Gomez proved he can be a worthy successor.
Gonzalo Mendez - Came in and instantly provided much better play than Amon. 8 starts has him at a 6.89 average rating, which is solid for such a young player and actually makes him the best statistical RB I have right now with Byram not playing well lately.
Prince Joffrey - Got a bunch more starting time with M'Bengue gone in Africa and he made the most of it, showing he can play at a very high level
Simone Zaza - Had to play starting striker for a bunch of games and did a serviceable job. I would have liked to see more scoring from him, but he did move the ball around well and facilitated a lot of the attacks that ended with Gomez scoring.
Spajic - With Molla Wague gone he became the main force in the Central defense. Played very good defense all quarter and even picked up 2 goals (key goals at that) to help the offense out.
Players I'm Disappointed with:
All the players on African National teams - Not because they are bad, but because they were gone and tired and injured from their various national team obligations. Diarra only played in 4 games total last quarter, M'bengue played in 3, and Wague played in 4. Given the fact that those guys were some of my most important players, it was devastating to have them gone for such a long stretch and then tired/off their games when they returned.
Sam Byram - Had a hideous quarter filled with mistakes, many of them leading directly to opposition goals. A regen youth player is now starting over him for the moment. This guy was supposed to have a breakout year.
Jorginho - Royally fuck this motherfucker. Injured for 4 months huge salary bump then he finally gets back to 100% health, demands a raise and then promptly gets hurt again in his first game back. THEN he gets injured AGAIN during his recovery. This guy is like @DeadMan. I've already signed his replacement and I'm moving him during the transfer window no matter what. Very disappointing because he was my biggest signing last summer and I had such hopes for him. At least I picked him up on a free so I should make money (or break even after wages).
2016-2017 End of Season Review - Stade Rennais Accolades
Once again, we had few individual accolades this season at Stade Rennais, but Aboubakar won African Player of the Year and Paul Ntep won Star of the Competition. Cheick M'Bengue also came in third for African Player of the Year. Only Paul Ntep made the Ligue 1 Starting XI.
Once again, we had few individual accolades this season at Stade Rennais, but Aboubakar won African Player of the Year and Paul Ntep won Star of the Competition. Cheick M'Bengue also came in third for African Player of the Year. Only Paul Ntep made the Ligue 1 Starting XI.
Definitely. I don't think Ntep is even the MVP for my own team, he just had the highest overall rating (must have been higher at the third decimal? or same rating with more appearances?)
2016-2017 End of Season Review - Player and Team Performance Wrap up and Final League Standings
MVP: Cheick Diarra. This was a hard decision between Diarra, Ntep, M'Bengue, and Gomez. In the end, Diarra scored the goals and had the highest rating on the team. He was very consistent all season long in every competition and even picked up 6 of his goals in the Champions League. He scored 21 goals in 21 starting appearances, which is a great scoring record. He didn't have many assists, but honestly he's not really that type of player. He really scores most of his goals by flashing quickly to the goal and getting in a dangerous spot or by poaching rebounds and finishing perfectly.
Strikers: I feel like I had better performance in this area than last year, with the further emergence of Diarra and my ability to swap Batshuayi's worthless performances out for Aboubaker who scored over twice as many goals in fewer appearances. Zaza also filled in pretty well when the African strikers were gone on international dute, and his ability to play both the striker and CAM spot are what will likely keep him on the team moving forward. The youth Djadjiri Konate showed some promise at times, but didn't really add much spark in his sub duty with the first team. I'm still really excited about him because he was voted the best player in some U20 tournament where he scored 6 goals in 4 games.
Attacking Midfielders/Wingers: This was the strongest part of my team last year and it pretty much continued that way this season. Ntep and Gomez both finished with double digit goals and assists, which is about as much as you can ask for! Propper had a great early season, but faded a bit down the stretch, still he contributed another 10 assists and 6 goals and lead the team by far in key passes. Wijnaldum#1 was a true unsung hero of the team this season, providing a reliable rotation option at all 3 attacking midfield spots and really emerging as a dominant force at CAM as propper's form faded a bit down the stretch. He added 5 goals and 10 assists. Zaza was also serviceable at the CAM spot and made a nice sub coming off the bench when we needed a more direct and speedy attacking option than Propper. With the youngins, Dembele seemed either really hot or really cold when I started him. He did score a couple of crucial goals as a sub for Gomez. Was a bit disappointed in the performance of Donato De Donno, as he had an awesome pre season and then did precisely jack squat with his few opportunities.
Central Midfielders: Pajot and Perreira were once again the main men in the central midfield and put together solid if not flashy results. Kevin Papin really emerged as an awesome rotation and substitute option due to his combination of solid passing stats, great tackling, and extremely high work rate and speed. He covered a ton of ground as he averaged 82% on his passing and lead the central midfielders with 5.37 tackles per game. Jorginho was a huge disappointment, mostly because he achieved a huge salary bump and literally spent the entire season on injured reserve. It was tough to not have him pan out, because he showed so much promise in the few games he played. Gonna sell him for sure, because I can't deal with a constantly injured Deadman in the Central Midfield. Strobl had a better season than last year, used mostly as a tactical sub when ankle breaking tackles were needed. He only had a yellow card for every 3 games, so he did a much better job not being a liability in that regard. The emergence of Papin limited his playing time, but he's still a versatile player on low wages, so Mr. Manager will likely attempt to hold on to him.
Fullbacks: M'bengue was once again the dominant beast man on the left, leading the team with an amazing 9.36 tackles per game. Wijnaldum#2 had a decent season as the backup, but was eventually surpassed by Prince Joffrey, as Joffrey strung together some amazing performances to earn more playing time. In the end, Joffrey ended the season with the 4th highest rating on the team in his 10 starts and provided a more attacking option going forward than M'bengue. Will probably look to sell Wijnaldum#2 as Joffrey is a serviceable backup and I have more youths coming up. On the right, we really missed Tiny Danze's steady hand this season as Sam Byram under performed compared to the expectations I had for him. Fortunately, the youth player Gonzalo Mendez arrived at the team in January and emerged as the starter, averaging a +7 rating and shoring up the defense on that side.
Central Defenders: Molla Wague had another great season as a starter, leading the team in key headers. Spajic emerged as the second starter, overtaking Abdoulaye who had some mental lapses before being sold off at the mid season transfer window. Spajic lead the team in key tackles and was only 2 behind Wague in key headers. When these two played together I always felt pretty solid at the back. Joel Veltman was the other CB who arrived last year and he turned out to be a disappointment, as he averaged the second lowest rating on the team. His attribute ratings have him as one of the best defenders on the team, but he just doesn't play like it. I'm deep at CB, so I'll just try to sell him this off season. Peybernes also registered low ratings, but he actually had a solid season that was marred by some horrible games. Still, the fact that he's the fastest CB, can play RB and is on low wages makes him a good rotation and tactical sub option for the team, so I'll likely keep him going forward. Joseph Gezaw started the year with some rocky performances, including costing me several games with ham-footed mistakes. Fortunately he rebounded and his performances as a starter while Molla Wague was away on Africa duty were really good. He's definitely going to be a force in the air in the future!
Goalie: Costil had a decent season, but he's showing a slow declining trend over the years.
This season featured several really long unbeaten runs in Ligue 1, and then several really bad stretches of games where we couldn't seem to find a way to earn a point against good competition. In total, we managed to lose to PSG 5 fucking times this season, several of them in games we absolutely should have won. The beat us in the champions cup, twice in Ligue 1, and then eliminated us from both the Coupe de Ligue 1 and the French Cup. The french cup was the worst, as we absolutely dominated the game and put over 30 shots toward goal, 15 on target, 6 quality chances... and scored a single goal. They beat us on PKs in overtime. Still, even with all of those losses to PSG, we had a chance at the Ligue 1 title until the very end. Unfortunately, losses to PSG, Montpellier, and Monaco in the final quarter of the season cost us. The highlight of the season was beating Juventus on the road and getting out of a tough group in the Champions league and then earning a hard fought draw against Chelsea, the eventual winners of the competition. That means we were eliminated by the eventual champion in every single competition we played in this year.
We entered the final quarter of the season with the #1 spot and a very slim lead on the rest of the top 4. We then lost to Montpellier, PSG, and Monaco and found ourselves in 4th place. Fortunately, we made a good run to finish out the season and slowly start gain points back. With 2 games remaining we were in 4th place, but Monaco and OM had to play in the final game. We won both of our final two games easily and OM lost the second to last game to drop below us and then beat Monaco in the last game, gifting us 2nd place. Another 2nd place finish for Mr. Manager (Highest ligue 1 point total for us to date). Interestingly, we were unable to beat any of the top 4 teams in ligue 1 play this season. The 2nd place finish was based on the strength of solid results against lower competition. It does hurt to finish a measly 2 points behind PSG, especially when we really should have earned a draw against them in an away game and were dicked by @Reel. A total of 6 games swung results based on penalty kicks given to the other team and 0 games swung in our favor based on PKs. I had lower foul totals and yellow card totals than last season and yet gave up twice as many penalties, all at the worst possible moments? HMMMMMMMMMM I think @Reel has it in for me!
As I mentioned above, we were eliminated by the eventual champion in each of our competitions. FUUUUU PSG and Chelsea!
MVP: Cheick Diarra. This was a hard decision between Diarra, Ntep, M'Bengue, and Gomez. In the end, Diarra scored the goals and had the highest rating on the team. He was very consistent all season long in every competition and even picked up 6 of his goals in the Champions League. He scored 21 goals in 21 starting appearances, which is a great scoring record. He didn't have many assists, but honestly he's not really that type of player. He really scores most of his goals by flashing quickly to the goal and getting in a dangerous spot or by poaching rebounds and finishing perfectly.
Strikers: I feel like I had better performance in this area than last year, with the further emergence of Diarra and my ability to swap Batshuayi's worthless performances out for Aboubaker who scored over twice as many goals in fewer appearances. Zaza also filled in pretty well when the African strikers were gone on international dute, and his ability to play both the striker and CAM spot are what will likely keep him on the team moving forward. The youth Djadjiri Konate showed some promise at times, but didn't really add much spark in his sub duty with the first team. I'm still really excited about him because he was voted the best player in some U20 tournament where he scored 6 goals in 4 games.
Attacking Midfielders/Wingers: This was the strongest part of my team last year and it pretty much continued that way this season. Ntep and Gomez both finished with double digit goals and assists, which is about as much as you can ask for! Propper had a great early season, but faded a bit down the stretch, still he contributed another 10 assists and 6 goals and lead the team by far in key passes. Wijnaldum#1 was a true unsung hero of the team this season, providing a reliable rotation option at all 3 attacking midfield spots and really emerging as a dominant force at CAM as propper's form faded a bit down the stretch. He added 5 goals and 10 assists. Zaza was also serviceable at the CAM spot and made a nice sub coming off the bench when we needed a more direct and speedy attacking option than Propper. With the youngins, Dembele seemed either really hot or really cold when I started him. He did score a couple of crucial goals as a sub for Gomez. Was a bit disappointed in the performance of Donato De Donno, as he had an awesome pre season and then did precisely jack squat with his few opportunities.
Central Midfielders: Pajot and Perreira were once again the main men in the central midfield and put together solid if not flashy results. Kevin Papin really emerged as an awesome rotation and substitute option due to his combination of solid passing stats, great tackling, and extremely high work rate and speed. He covered a ton of ground as he averaged 82% on his passing and lead the central midfielders with 5.37 tackles per game. Jorginho was a huge disappointment, mostly because he achieved a huge salary bump and literally spent the entire season on injured reserve. It was tough to not have him pan out, because he showed so much promise in the few games he played. Gonna sell him for sure, because I can't deal with a constantly injured Deadman in the Central Midfield. Strobl had a better season than last year, used mostly as a tactical sub when ankle breaking tackles were needed. He only had a yellow card for every 3 games, so he did a much better job not being a liability in that regard. The emergence of Papin limited his playing time, but he's still a versatile player on low wages, so Mr. Manager will likely attempt to hold on to him.
Fullbacks: M'bengue was once again the dominant beast man on the left, leading the team with an amazing 9.36 tackles per game. Wijnaldum#2 had a decent season as the backup, but was eventually surpassed by Prince Joffrey, as Joffrey strung together some amazing performances to earn more playing time. In the end, Joffrey ended the season with the 4th highest rating on the team in his 10 starts and provided a more attacking option going forward than M'bengue. Will probably look to sell Wijnaldum#2 as Joffrey is a serviceable backup and I have more youths coming up. On the right, we really missed Tiny Danze's steady hand this season as Sam Byram under performed compared to the expectations I had for him. Fortunately, the youth player Gonzalo Mendez arrived at the team in January and emerged as the starter, averaging a +7 rating and shoring up the defense on that side.
Central Defenders: Molla Wague had another great season as a starter, leading the team in key headers. Spajic emerged as the second starter, overtaking Abdoulaye who had some mental lapses before being sold off at the mid season transfer window. Spajic lead the team in key tackles and was only 2 behind Wague in key headers. When these two played together I always felt pretty solid at the back. Joel Veltman was the other CB who arrived last year and he turned out to be a disappointment, as he averaged the second lowest rating on the team. His attribute ratings have him as one of the best defenders on the team, but he just doesn't play like it. I'm deep at CB, so I'll just try to sell him this off season. Peybernes also registered low ratings, but he actually had a solid season that was marred by some horrible games. Still, the fact that he's the fastest CB, can play RB and is on low wages makes him a good rotation and tactical sub option for the team, so I'll likely keep him going forward. Joseph Gezaw started the year with some rocky performances, including costing me several games with ham-footed mistakes. Fortunately he rebounded and his performances as a starter while Molla Wague was away on Africa duty were really good. He's definitely going to be a force in the air in the future!
Goalie: Costil had a decent season, but he's showing a slow declining trend over the years.
This season featured several really long unbeaten runs in Ligue 1, and then several really bad stretches of games where we couldn't seem to find a way to earn a point against good competition. In total, we managed to lose to PSG 5 fucking times this season, several of them in games we absolutely should have won. The beat us in the champions cup, twice in Ligue 1, and then eliminated us from both the Coupe de Ligue 1 and the French Cup. The french cup was the worst, as we absolutely dominated the game and put over 30 shots toward goal, 15 on target, 6 quality chances... and scored a single goal. They beat us on PKs in overtime. Still, even with all of those losses to PSG, we had a chance at the Ligue 1 title until the very end. Unfortunately, losses to PSG, Montpellier, and Monaco in the final quarter of the season cost us. The highlight of the season was beating Juventus on the road and getting out of a tough group in the Champions league and then earning a hard fought draw against Chelsea, the eventual winners of the competition. That means we were eliminated by the eventual champion in every single competition we played in this year.
We entered the final quarter of the season with the #1 spot and a very slim lead on the rest of the top 4. We then lost to Montpellier, PSG, and Monaco and found ourselves in 4th place. Fortunately, we made a good run to finish out the season and slowly start gain points back. With 2 games remaining we were in 4th place, but Monaco and OM had to play in the final game. We won both of our final two games easily and OM lost the second to last game to drop below us and then beat Monaco in the last game, gifting us 2nd place. Another 2nd place finish for Mr. Manager (Highest ligue 1 point total for us to date). Interestingly, we were unable to beat any of the top 4 teams in ligue 1 play this season. The 2nd place finish was based on the strength of solid results against lower competition. It does hurt to finish a measly 2 points behind PSG, especially when we really should have earned a draw against them in an away game and were dicked by @Reel. A total of 6 games swung results based on penalty kicks given to the other team and 0 games swung in our favor based on PKs. I had lower foul totals and yellow card totals than last season and yet gave up twice as many penalties, all at the worst possible moments? HMMMMMMMMMM I think @Reel has it in for me!
As I mentioned above, we were eliminated by the eventual champion in each of our competitions. FUUUUU PSG and Chelsea!
2016-2017 End of Season Review - Confidence Review and Financial Developments
Once again, the board seem "satisfied" with my performance, but I have a feeling they want more from Mr. Manager in the future. They really weren't pleased with the huge amount of money I spent on Aboubakar, but they shut up about that after he started scoring goals. The board also bumped my salary budget up slightly to 1.6 million p/w and set my transfer budget at $65 million. That's the base level and they'll give me more if I make bigger promises, but I probably won't. I addressed most of the positions of need by signing free transfers on expiring contracts and they'll show up July 1st. I'll probably sell some more players off, but I've got a fair few players, especially promising youngsters, looking for raises so I might have to move some of that transfer money over to put my payroll budget more in the $1.8 million range.
Lizard Math:
We ended the season with $101 Million in the bank, again the lizard math seems needlessly complicated, but I know we finished last season with a balance of $78.3 Million. That means our true net profit was $22.7 million. That's especially impressive, considering the fact that we spent $31 Million on a transfer!
I decided to bump the player salary section to the season preview, as that will be a more accurate reflection of salaries heading into the next season (Players get yearly % raises at the end of June, contracts expire, etc).
Once again, the board seem "satisfied" with my performance, but I have a feeling they want more from Mr. Manager in the future. They really weren't pleased with the huge amount of money I spent on Aboubakar, but they shut up about that after he started scoring goals. The board also bumped my salary budget up slightly to 1.6 million p/w and set my transfer budget at $65 million. That's the base level and they'll give me more if I make bigger promises, but I probably won't. I addressed most of the positions of need by signing free transfers on expiring contracts and they'll show up July 1st. I'll probably sell some more players off, but I've got a fair few players, especially promising youngsters, looking for raises so I might have to move some of that transfer money over to put my payroll budget more in the $1.8 million range.
Lizard Math:
We ended the season with $101 Million in the bank, again the lizard math seems needlessly complicated, but I know we finished last season with a balance of $78.3 Million. That means our true net profit was $22.7 million. That's especially impressive, considering the fact that we spent $31 Million on a transfer!
I decided to bump the player salary section to the season preview, as that will be a more accurate reflection of salaries heading into the next season (Players get yearly % raises at the end of June, contracts expire, etc).
2016-2017 End of Season Review - SPINOFF ALTERNATE REALITY!
So... Funny story...
As I was fast advancing between games during the last quarter of the season, I apparently missed when Stade Rennais board of directors offered me a new contract extension (my current contract expires 6-30-2017). Me ignoring them apparently pissed them off, because when I initially approached them about a contract extension on June 1st they told me "You are not in our future plans" or something like that. WAT. You should note that I turned down numerous job interviews all spring, including at Manchester City and Tottenham and half the Bundesliga. Anyway, I immediately saved the game so that I could explore the different options I might have here and create some alternate realities. I really want to keep one version (sober) of Mr. Manager at Stade Rennais and I'd love for another version (drunk) of Mr. Manager to be forced to toil in the wilderness of some lower league in England because he's drunk during the board meeting. Fortunately, after exploring several options, I was able to figure out how to make both versions of reality happen.
In the Stade Rennais reality, all I actually had to do was a wait a few more days and the board of directors offered me a new contract. I don't know why they said they had no intention of offering me a new contract? Maybe some date hadn't triggered that event again yet or something? Either way, rest assured that the sober version of Mr. Manager was offered a new contract through 2019 and he'll be with the team to watch the growth of this promising class of young players as they prepare to exact their revenge on PSG. I'm going to put this save aside after one more post to wrap up some pre-season transfer notes. I've exported all of my season preview data into a spreadsheet and saved the game on July 2nd, so It should be very easy to pick back up when I get around to it. At that point I'll write up my season preview and also do my check in on the youth prospects. The reason I'm delaying both of those until I pick it up again is that think doing those posts will really help me re familiarize myself with the team before starting a new season. For now, Sober Mr. Manager goes into a state of hibernation!
So the drunk version of Mr. Manager realizes the oversight and immediately calls a board meeting and demands a new contract. When they tell him they won't offer him a new contract, Mr. Manager leaks the information to the press and tells the French papers that he thinks T Delauney is a spineless french cunt and that "I've always hated you french anyway, speak ENGLISH." T Delauney and the board call Mr. Manager in for a meeting and he shows up after having "just a couple a drinks." Delauney starts things off on the wrong foot by demanding that Mr. Manager explain his conduct. Mr. Manager fires back "Well, lets make it official then, cuntie!" and attempts to flip the board room table over before charging the esteemed Mr. Delauney and ripping his face off, like some sort of horrible ape monster. Drunk Mr. Manager is fired and his reputation has taken a massive hit. Just a month ago he was offered the Manchester City job and now no self respecting team will touch him with a ten foot pole! Fortunately, this is professional athletics and there are plenty of down and out teams willing to put self respect on the back burner if it means a few more wins next season! We temporarily leave this story as Mr. Manager is approaching every low to mid level English side who will give him an interview.
So... Funny story...
As I was fast advancing between games during the last quarter of the season, I apparently missed when Stade Rennais board of directors offered me a new contract extension (my current contract expires 6-30-2017). Me ignoring them apparently pissed them off, because when I initially approached them about a contract extension on June 1st they told me "You are not in our future plans" or something like that. WAT. You should note that I turned down numerous job interviews all spring, including at Manchester City and Tottenham and half the Bundesliga. Anyway, I immediately saved the game so that I could explore the different options I might have here and create some alternate realities. I really want to keep one version (sober) of Mr. Manager at Stade Rennais and I'd love for another version (drunk) of Mr. Manager to be forced to toil in the wilderness of some lower league in England because he's drunk during the board meeting. Fortunately, after exploring several options, I was able to figure out how to make both versions of reality happen.
In the Stade Rennais reality, all I actually had to do was a wait a few more days and the board of directors offered me a new contract. I don't know why they said they had no intention of offering me a new contract? Maybe some date hadn't triggered that event again yet or something? Either way, rest assured that the sober version of Mr. Manager was offered a new contract through 2019 and he'll be with the team to watch the growth of this promising class of young players as they prepare to exact their revenge on PSG. I'm going to put this save aside after one more post to wrap up some pre-season transfer notes. I've exported all of my season preview data into a spreadsheet and saved the game on July 2nd, so It should be very easy to pick back up when I get around to it. At that point I'll write up my season preview and also do my check in on the youth prospects. The reason I'm delaying both of those until I pick it up again is that think doing those posts will really help me re familiarize myself with the team before starting a new season. For now, Sober Mr. Manager goes into a state of hibernation!
So the drunk version of Mr. Manager realizes the oversight and immediately calls a board meeting and demands a new contract. When they tell him they won't offer him a new contract, Mr. Manager leaks the information to the press and tells the French papers that he thinks T Delauney is a spineless french cunt and that "I've always hated you french anyway, speak ENGLISH." T Delauney and the board call Mr. Manager in for a meeting and he shows up after having "just a couple a drinks." Delauney starts things off on the wrong foot by demanding that Mr. Manager explain his conduct. Mr. Manager fires back "Well, lets make it official then, cuntie!" and attempts to flip the board room table over before charging the esteemed Mr. Delauney and ripping his face off, like some sort of horrible ape monster. Drunk Mr. Manager is fired and his reputation has taken a massive hit. Just a month ago he was offered the Manchester City job and now no self respecting team will touch him with a ten foot pole! Fortunately, this is professional athletics and there are plenty of down and out teams willing to put self respect on the back burner if it means a few more wins next season! We temporarily leave this story as Mr. Manager is approaching every low to mid level English side who will give him an interview.
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2017-2018 Pre-Season Transfers (Sober Reality)
Managed to trim a little bit of dead weight from the roster. Got a very nice $18M and $9M for Jorginho and Wijnaldum#2, respectively. Jorginho had an extremely high salary and was constantly injured and Wijnaldum #2 was just a casualty of the emergence of Prince Joffrey and the fact that he wanted a raise and more playing time. Didn't get as much as I'd like for Kleber. I turned down and early $6 Million offer but then I forgot about the $4Million buy out offer that I'd worked into his loan agreement with Heerenveen so they snapped him up and I lost a few million. Philippe Richard was a young striker whom I had no future plans for. He always played well for youth and reserve teams but only had 2 star potential and nobody wanted to buy him. Cant afford to sign players like that to contracts. I picked Jorginho up on a free last season, so even though I hate him for getting injured and squandering his potential, I made a nice profit on flipping him, even with his wages high for half a season.
Players coming in come from two sources, my African scouting for players with interesting attributes or high potential and then from scouring the expiring contracts for best players available. In the first category, I picked up Madu Kareem, a very promising looking CM/CAM, which is a position where I don't have much youth talent. Baba Yakubu is a gigantor 6'6 CB that I signed 2 or 3 seasons ago at like age 15 when I saw his 6'6 height, 19 Determination, and 17 strength as a youth. He doesn't have the greatest potential and I'm not sure where he fits in the team since Gezaw fills a similar niche moving forward, but maybe I can sell him for more in the future? The wages on both of these guys are super cheap, so even if I just let them play on the reserves and then eventually expire I won't have lost anything.
Then in the best players available department, I signed an attacking mid, a central mid, and a central defender. All of them will be on affordable wages for the attributes/ratings they bring to the game. Jose Rodriguez, a young player for Real Madrid, is basically the replacement to fill the extremely technical midfield role I wanted Jorginho to fill. Mike Van der Hoorn and Bilal Basacikoglu will just provide more depth and talent at affordable prices at their respective positions, which will allow me to take advantage of any ridiculous offers I might receive on existing Stade Rennais players in those positions during the transfer window.
(This will be my last post in this dynasty until I pick things back up again!)
Managed to trim a little bit of dead weight from the roster. Got a very nice $18M and $9M for Jorginho and Wijnaldum#2, respectively. Jorginho had an extremely high salary and was constantly injured and Wijnaldum #2 was just a casualty of the emergence of Prince Joffrey and the fact that he wanted a raise and more playing time. Didn't get as much as I'd like for Kleber. I turned down and early $6 Million offer but then I forgot about the $4Million buy out offer that I'd worked into his loan agreement with Heerenveen so they snapped him up and I lost a few million. Philippe Richard was a young striker whom I had no future plans for. He always played well for youth and reserve teams but only had 2 star potential and nobody wanted to buy him. Cant afford to sign players like that to contracts. I picked Jorginho up on a free last season, so even though I hate him for getting injured and squandering his potential, I made a nice profit on flipping him, even with his wages high for half a season.
Players coming in come from two sources, my African scouting for players with interesting attributes or high potential and then from scouring the expiring contracts for best players available. In the first category, I picked up Madu Kareem, a very promising looking CM/CAM, which is a position where I don't have much youth talent. Baba Yakubu is a gigantor 6'6 CB that I signed 2 or 3 seasons ago at like age 15 when I saw his 6'6 height, 19 Determination, and 17 strength as a youth. He doesn't have the greatest potential and I'm not sure where he fits in the team since Gezaw fills a similar niche moving forward, but maybe I can sell him for more in the future? The wages on both of these guys are super cheap, so even if I just let them play on the reserves and then eventually expire I won't have lost anything.
Then in the best players available department, I signed an attacking mid, a central mid, and a central defender. All of them will be on affordable wages for the attributes/ratings they bring to the game. Jose Rodriguez, a young player for Real Madrid, is basically the replacement to fill the extremely technical midfield role I wanted Jorginho to fill. Mike Van der Hoorn and Bilal Basacikoglu will just provide more depth and talent at affordable prices at their respective positions, which will allow me to take advantage of any ridiculous offers I might receive on existing Stade Rennais players in those positions during the transfer window.
(This will be my last post in this dynasty until I pick things back up again!)
